Rescue
by Vesta Dragon
Summary: A Jungle Movie AU One Shot – What happened to Miles and Stella, as told by someone who tried to rescue them, and paid the price.


**Rescue ****by Vesta Dragon**

**A Jungle Movie AU One Shot – What happened to Miles and Stella, as told by someone who tried to rescue them, and paid the price.**

**Nothing's mine. Enjoy! **

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"_And so, they loaded up their plane and took off, for one last time."_

"_What happened to them Grandpa?"_

"_They never came back. Never heard from them again."_

"_What about their plane?" _

"_It was never found."_

"_So, they could just be lost, and maybe someday, they might come back."_

- _Parents Day Episode_

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"I saw your parents take off that day, it was raining, but your father had flown in worse conditions in the past, so a storm couldn't have been the cause for their plane to disappear off the map. After a week, both Governments sent out search teams. These jungles are temperamental, not everyone knows how to get around them, and after a few days they all gave up, but not me. I knew only one person capable of making people disappear without a trace, and who also had a lot of hatred for Miles and Stella."

"La Sombra."

"Yes, La Sombra. He is a mercenary and a pirate. For years he has ruled the jungle, controlling the villages in it. The work your parents did here, helping people, did not sit well with La Sombra, but it wasn't until your parents stole from him La Corazon of the Green Eyes, that he truly saw them as enemies. Thankfully, he was never able to find out about you, because by the time he tried to get revenge, your parents were already on their way to Hillwood with you. In part it was because of how dangerous it would be to raise an infant in the jungle, but they also feared what La Sombra might do to you should he found out about you. When I went to ask for their help, we all knew that there was the risk of him harming them, had I known Arnold that all along it was his plan to bring them here, I would've never asked them to come."

"But I thought there had been a terrible disease, and my parents were the only ones that could make the antidote."

"Oh yes but what we didn't know was that La Sombra had spread out the disease in the first place, to make the Green Eyes come out, and lure your parents back into the Jungle. I, along others who held your parents in great regard, made our own teams of rescue to try to find your parents a month after they went missing and anyone else who had been sent to rescue them had gone home.

"We followed the way they had gone by plane on land, and after 2 days, we found the remains of their plane, but no bodies. We checked the plane and found out it had been shot on while in the sky, by another plane. Someone knew your parents were flying that day, followed them, and made their plane crash. We also found their parachutes a few trees over, so we knew that they had landed safely, but were captured once on the ground.

"We kept going, following the signs of overturn trees and old fires that La Sombra's men had left behind. We knew we were on the right path because we found your mother's scarf tangled in a tree branch. Finally we arrived at La Sombra's camp, a fortress with guards watching over the only entrance and exit. Out of provisions, we came back to the village, where we tried to get the authorities to help us rescue Miles and Stella, but they were too afraid of La Sombra, we were on our own. It took us another month of careful planning and watching the fortress to have a plan that would have some chance of succeeding. We managed to get in during one night that La Sombra had left to attend some business elsewhere. While my companions took care of the guards, I searched for your parents, and I found them. They had bruises, your father more than your mother, but still they were alive. As we tried to get out of there, La Sombra arrived. There were enough of us to fight his men, and a battle broke out. I tried to get your parents out of there, but we ended up fighting against La Sombra. Suddenly, shadows came out of the jungle, and took out La Sombra's men. It was the Green Eyes, they were there to help your Mom and Dad, but still La Sombra's men were fiercer and stronger. In the midst of the battle, I was separated from your parents by the Green Eyes. They took them and fled as silent as they had arrived. Unfortunately, the Green Eyes were only there for your parents, and soon the rest of us were captured.

"La Sombra tortured us for days, trying to find out where the Green Eyes were, but none of us could tell him. You see, the Green Eyes have remained untraceable for years, many believe them to have died out. They are the only ones that have the ability to guide you to their hidden village, and once they took your parents with them for their safety, they would never let them go. Once he found out I was the one with the plan, he killed everyone else, and according to him, killing me would be showing mercy, so he made his men beat me up and leave me near the village. I woke up a week later in the hospital, only to find I would never walk again and that La Sombra had gone after my village, and in the process had kidnapped all the women and children, killing the men and anyone else who opposed him, like my dear Esperanza, my wife. He send me a message, that if I were ever to try to cross him again or tell the police anything, I would be delivered my son's head.

"For 8 years Arnold, I have been forced to remain here in the remains of my village, the very same that your parents helped build, tied to this wheelchair, regretting that horrible day I ever asked them to come back here. I feared that if I contacted you or your grandparents, La Sombra would find out about you and kidnap you to get to your parents, because if I'm sure of something, is that he hasn't been able to find them either. Promise me Arnold, that you will not go after him, he is very dangerous, and if he were to find you, he would kill you or kidnap you, like my son." Eduardo wheeled himself to a small nightstand, and took a photo of a young boy, no more than 5 years old, who was being hugged by a woman with long black hair. Arnold took it, as Eduardo's eyes filled with tears once more.

"Please, I would never forgive myself if my best friend's only son was killed by that monster. Promise me that you won't go after him, or go into the jungle." The desperation in the man's eyes, forced Arnold to look away as he gave him back the photograph.

"I'm sorry Eduardo. I came here to find my parents, and I'm not leaving without them. I won't go after La Sombra, if he doesn't have them, as you said, then I'll try not to cross paths with him, but if he does have them, I'll fight him. Nothing will stop me from rescuing them." Arnold said with resolve, standing at his highest.

Eduardo smiled sadly and ruffled his hair.

"You've got their spirit and their bravery. You kids just stay safe, alright?" He told them, now gazing at Gerald and Helga, who nodded back. He embraced Arnold one last time, before all three children left the hut, as Eduardo watched them go sadly from his chair. He gazed at the moon as it rose in the sky.

*"Protégelos, Dios mío. Que nada malo les suceda y que encuentren a mis viejos amigos con vida."* He softly called, as he wheeled himself back inside his house, closing the door as he did.

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***"Protect them, my God. That nothing harms them and that they find my old friends alive."***

**If you're very confused by who Eduardo is, you my friend, need to see the episodes 'Parents Day' and 'The Journal' immediately. So, yeah, my take on how Miles and Stella became lost as they returned from their last mission in San Lorenzo. It's slightly AU because according to the Hey Arnold! Wiki and I quote **"Eduardo's next appearance would have been in the cancelled Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie. According to one of the sketches, Eduardo would have captained a steam-powered riverboat."** But still, I wondered, if Eduardo was Miles best friend, why didn't he ever contact Arnold? After all, he was there when our football headed hero 'silenced all nature'. And well, this was born. In short, Eduardo tried to rescue Miles and Stella from La Sombra, since he knew he was the one who kidnapped them, but they were found as they tried to escape. In the struggle, the Green Eyes appeared, rescued Miles and Stella, but left Eduardo and the rest at the mercy of the pirates. La Sombra, to punish Eduardo, killed everyone, crippled him and kidnapped the women and children of his village, in the process taking Eduardo's son and killing his wife. And if Eduardo tried to get help, he would kill his son.**

**I actually had more or less, planned my own version of the Jungle Movie, where Arnold, Gerald and Helga had first stopped here to talk to Eduardo, following the map Arnold found in the Journal, and then they would have kept on going trying to find the ruins of the Green Eyes. It's not much but I really couldn't stop myself from writing this and I thought, well let's upload it, got nothing to lose. Sorry if it doesn't add up to many things we know are supposed to happen in the Jungle Movie, but it is AU for a reason. I really don't think to write more on this, it's a one shot, but I might write on something else, like the famous kiss ;) Anyway review and tell me what you think, critics are welcome; I don't have a Beta so excuse the many errors. If someone is interested in writing something based on this story please ask or at least credit that it was my idea in the first place. : P**

**Review! **

**Love, V.D. **


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